Followers of Seth
'Followers of Seth' '' Purpose: Typhon Seth demands that chaos come to the earth. The power structures of living man and dead man alike must be destabilized. Doing so promotes cosmic harmony. ''Doctrine: ''Sethites believe in small, specific acts that domino into greater chaos. 'For want of a nail, a shoe was lost...' Their actions are subtle, but designed to have far-reaching repercussions. ''Membership: ''Humans may join the cult, but are restricted to one dot of status. Sethites tend to prize access over power, and recruits are frequently technicians, postal workers, mechanics, drivers, and suchlike. Ghouls may join as one- or two-dot members, though usually only if their regnant is a member. Among vampires, only Mekhet may join the Followers of Seth. Most of those are drawn from the Ordo Dracul or the Circle of the Crone. No Sanctified has ever been a Follower of Seth. 'Initiation Benefits' • The Sethites steep themselves in occult lore, and knowledge of the spirits and demons that plague the world is something of a prerequisite for advancement in the cult. The character gains one free specialty in the Occult skill. •• The Sethite has, by this point, studied a phenomenal amount of lore concerning the demons and gods of dozens of cultures. The character gains the Merit Encyclopedic Knowledge (Occult) for free. ••• The Sethite gains the right to use the blood magic of Typhon Seth, meaning that she has access to Crúac rituals. The character can buy dots in Crúac as an out-of-clan Discipline, even if she isn't a member of the Circle of the Crone. The Circle of the Crone often reacts violently to outsiders who display facility with blood magic, however, and any Sethite would be sensible to be circumspect. Sethite rituals cost ten Beats each; Crúac rituals cost fifteen Beats each. •••• Respected Sethites are taught the secrets of repurposing Bygones into weapons. By destroying a Bygone, they can give one weapon the ability to hurt spirits and ghosts. ••••• The highest ranking Followers of Seth sit at the top of a pyramid of followers who are willing to obey almost any strange order. The character gains four dots to be spent between Allies and Staff as the player sees fit. 'Sethite Crúac' '''Linked Themes: '''Creation and Protection '''Sacrifice': All rituals cost one Vitae per dot in the highest Theme of the rite. The first Vitae is absorbed by the caster as though fuelling a Discipline. Any remaining Vitae used must leave the ritualist's body and be used in the ritual's casting, usually by means of a self-inflicted wound. Dice Pools: *''Improvised:'' Manipulation + Occult + Theme *''Creation: Composure + Crafts + Creation *''Destruction: ''Presence + Athletics + Destruction *''Divination: ''Composure + Investigation + Divination *''Protection: ''Presence + Stealth + Protection *''Transmutation: ''Manipulation + Survival + Transmutation The target number of successes is the total Theme dots used in the ritual (not just the highest), adjusted according to any Ritual Factors. '''Motif': Egyptian, sacrificial, corrupting. Egyptian: ''Sethite rituals often involve complicated symbolic formulae, vestments, masks, braziers issuing odd-colored smoke, altars and the like, and imprecations to the powers of Ancient Egypt in Egyptian or Classical Greek, particularly to the demon Amemet the Devourer and, of course, to the Lord of Entropy himself, Typhon Seth. While it is possible for Sethites to cast their magic without the accoutrements, having the appropriate Egyptian theme gives a +2 equipment bonus to the dice pool. ''Sacrificial: ''All Sethite rituals require a blood sacrifice. Having obtained some blood from the sacrifice, the caster mixes it with some of his own, and either burns the concoction in a brazier or uses it in some other way as part of the ritual. One to three-dot rituals require the death of a mouse or similar small animal, with owls and hawks particularly favored. Four-dot rituals require a more substantial sacrifice, such as a dog, cat, sheep, bull, or goat. Five-dot rituals require a human sacrifice. ''Corrupting: ''Like ordinary Crúac, Sethite Crúac strengthens the Beast at the cost of the Man. A character's dots in Crúac, subtracted from 10, is the maximum to which his Humanity may rise. For example, a character with Crúac 3 cannot have a Humanity higher than 7. If a character increases his Crúac score higher than his Humanity would normally allow, his Humanity immediately drops to the appropriate level and he is considered to have rolled a Dramatic Failure on the detachment test. 'Blood Sorcery' Sethite Crúac is a subset of Crúac, and is therefore kept a careful secret by its practitioners. Acolytes tend to react with extreme violence toward anyone outside their Covenant displaying knowledge of their blood magic. All iterations of Blood Sorcery have five themes: Creation, Divination, Destruction, Protection, Transmutation. The first dot of Blood Sorcery grants two dots of Themes linked to that type of Sorcery, as well as a dot in the player's choice of the other three. Every time the character gains a new dot of the discipline itself, an extra dot is gained in a Theme the character already knows. Theme dots may be bought independently of the Ritual Discipline for 15 beats each. If a character somehow learns another variation of Blood Sorcery the Theme dots she already has at equal to or lower level than the new Discipline are usable with it, but she only gains one extra Theme dot rather than three when first learning the new Discipline. 'Sethite Rituals' • Genius Loci (Transmutation •) : This ritual targets a location where the borders between the real world and the place of spirits and ghosts are thin, such as a graveyard or a house where a murder has been committed. The Sethite increases the supernatural ambience of the place, which manifests in effects such as a sudden chill, witch-fire playing around the trees, apparitions flickering in people's peripheral vision, or rot and mold spontaneously appearing. All Social dice pools are penalized by the ritual's Potency, apart from Intimidation which instead gains a corresponding bonus. Common Ritual Factors are Area of Effect, Duration, and Potency. •• Amemet's Pursuit (Divination •, Transmutation ••) : The Sethite lays a curse on her victim, so that when the victim tries to flee her he instead runs directly toward her. Note that this has no effect on normal movement: if the caster's location is not in any way factored into the victim's choices, the ritual will not redirect him. The victim reflexively resists with a Composure + Blood Potency roll. Common Ritual Factors are Duration and Range. ••• The Hand of Seth (Protection •••) : This ritual drives a possessing spirit out of an immobilized body. The spirit is not damaged, but cannot attempt to possess a new host for the ritual's Duration. The most common Ritual Factor is Duration. •••• The Thrashing of Apep's Coils (Creation ••••) : This ritual summons Apep, the Great Dead Serpent, Bringer of Discord, in the form of sudden extreme weather conditions such as lightning, freezing rain, hail or snow, howling winds, and similar phenomena. The Sethite gains a +1 modifier to cast this ritual if the weather is already poor, but suffers a -2 penalty if the weather is exceptionally fine and warm. Success allows the caster to impose a number of Environmental Tilts equal to the ritual's Potency on the area. Common Ritual Factors are Area of Effect, Duration, and Potency. •••• Blade of Tu'at (Destruction ••••) : The Sethite smears a knife or sword with the mixed blood of the sacrificial victim and her own Vitae, thereby granting the blade the power to cause aggravated damage to ghosts and spirits, whether in twilight or materialized. The weapon is no more effective than usual against anyone else. When the effect of the ritual wears off, the weapon rusts or rots away and can never be used again. The most common Ritual Factor is Duration. ••••• The Rite of Going Forth By Day (Protection •••, Transmutation •••••) : This ritual requires the caster to cut out the heart of a human victim and eat it. When next she sleeps, her ''ka ''leaves her body, getting up and walking about in the broad daylight. She appears to be completely solid, and can interact with anyone she meets, but she can only touch the physical world by spending a point of Vitae and succeeding on a Presence + Occult roll, and even then can only do so for a few seconds. Additionally, she is unable to make use of any Disciplines. Ghosts and spirits are completely tangible to her, however. : While away from her body in this way the vampire has no reflection, no shadow, creates no echo, and does not appear on film or register on any device that records or transmits sound. She can travel no further from her body than the Range of the ritual. Common Ritual Factors are Duration and Range. 'Source''' ''Mekhet: Shadows of the Dark, ''pp 92-94, 106-108. Category:Sethite Crúac Category:Blood Sorcery Category:Followers of Seth Category:Cults Category:Translations